Customer Reviews

KitchenAid KSB5MC 5-Speed Blender, Metallic Chrome

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

This is a fine blender, and works well when it works. However, the teeth on the rubber coupling did strip. After some trial and error, here's what worked.

First, I ordered a couple of new couplings from partselect.com ($6 each). Obviously you only need one, but I figured if it broke once.... [...]

Then I ordered a 9/32" ignition wrench from snapon: [...]

The wrench was too thick. I figured it might be, but I couldn't find a thinner one (what's called for is something like a bicycle cone wrench but to my knowledge they do not come that small). So I ground it down. The coupling piece has two main components: a metal disk to which the rubber portion is bonded, and the rubber portion itself. Peeling the (stripped) rubber portion off the disk was fairly easily done with a pair of pliers.

Finally - slip the wrench on to the shaft, grab the metal disk with a channel wrench, and twist the channel wrench clockwise. Presto! Putting the new coupling on is simplicity itself - just screw it on. No need to tighten it much - blender use will only tighten it further.

This blender is by far the best blender I have ever owned. It can blend and chop anything. It's the first blender that I don't have to stop constantly to help the blender in it's task. My biggest complaint is that this product has a faulty part. It is the plastic part there the blade spins. The metal that connects with this eventually causes it to break off some of the pieces, rendering the blender unusable. My sister's blender actually started burning because of the friction. I have only had my blender for a year and a half and its already wearing thin. KitchenAid refuses to replace or fix this problem even though plenty of customers have complained about the issue.

My wife and I have been fans (and owners) of KitchenAid appliances for years. This includes refrigerators, dishwashers, food processors, and various utensils. We had high expectations when we selected this blender. Our unit has exhibited good reliability, but the performance is lackluster. Ice is incompletely crushed, which leaves lumps in drinks. Even bananas and strawberries (which are rather mild materials) are not completely pureed, after 30 seconds of high-speed attempts. I wonder if the circular/cylindrical shape plays a degrading role. The blades, though very durable, are not all that sharp. We had much better performance from Oster and Hamilton Beach. Price is not a barometer of quality.

I bought this to make smoothies with because of a great sale price on amazon.com With 575 watts, i thought it would be more than powerful enough. While it can chop ice and produce a good smoothie, I find it involves a bit of work. Basically, I have to spend 5-10 minutes pulsing the blender on progressively faster settings, all the while sticking in a spoon to mix up the contents frequently. For softer foods, the blender works like a charm. Overall the look, size, amount of noise, mess and cleanup wonderful. If you don't plan on putting ice in it, this is a great blender for you. Otherwise, you might need something with a little more power. One last thing, the reviewer that mentioned contents sitting just above the blades is right. This happens to me when i have ice and a little bit of liquid in the blender. A pocket of air forms and the blender and you'll need to stir the contents around.

To be concise:

I ordered enthusiastically.
I received and took it out for a smoothie-spin.
It ground to a halt (still running, just...not with blades performing their function) when I dared to drop in one cup of frozen strawberries.
It completely balked when, in a moment of wild abandon, I added two small scoops of not-even-particularly-frozen sherbet.
To make a concise story even more brief. Here's my morning ritual: I add, I turn on, I turn off, I stir with spoon, I hope, I turn on, I turn off, I stir with spoon, I hope, I turn on... And voila! A smoothie. It's just made by me--not by this sucky blender.

I thought I was buying a quality product but I was disappointed. Shortly after my warranty expired one of the teeth on top of the motor broke when I was trying to make a smoothy. I called Kitchenaid to see what it would take to get repaired and was told $55 plus parts! My previous blender lasted 24 years, worked great, and in that time never needed a repair. So my next blender will NOT be a Kitchenaid as I have no desire to repair or replace such an expensive blender frequently.

I bought this product and it worked fine except the coupler (coupling) that connect the glass jar and the base unit worn out quite fast. I thought this is going to be another useless blender. Kitchenaid does not provider you any support and the nearest service center is 200 miles from my place. I did some research and talked to one of the service personal at the service center and got some ideas and thought I will try myself.

To replace the coupling this is what you need to do

1) Take off the rubber bush at the bottom and there are 4 screws, take them off
2) There is a small ring around the bottom of shaft. Hold it tight with a plier (put a soft cloth around it so that it will not get scratched)
3) Turn the coupling clockwise (while you are holding tight at the bottom of the shaft so that it will not turn). The coupling will come off easily.
4) Then you can put the new coupling (easily available online for USD 5.99) quite easily.

The hard part was to figure out how to stop the shaft from turning since there is not much space between the coupling and the base unit.

Hope this will help a lot of people, I read the reviews and every one had the same problem

I purchased the KSBWW after first getting, then returning, an Oster model that was a bit less expensive. The Oster looked practical and like a good value, but it was a very shoddy plastic body with a double-walled plastic jug. I hated it immediately.

But this one, wow, what a difference. It is heavy-duty, with a squat glass jar. The blades are easily three times the thickness of the Oster's. This one has "only" five speeds, but I'd be fine with even the three-speed model. Really, do we absolutely have to have ten different choices? It's like in the excellent KitchenAid food processors: On and off would really be almost sufficient.

I can't speak to its longevity, but I'm certainly willing to believe it's going to be on par with my other KitchenAid items.

Just a month or so after using this blender, the rubber coupling started causing trouble. It heats up and gets soft. That means when you are trying to get dinner finished, the blender quits working. After the coupling heats up a few times, it gets brittle. The last time I used the blender, the coupling literally crumbled.

I get tired of companies who lack quality control. My blender was useless within the year. How much money did Kitchen Aid make on this defective product? This kind of thing shows a clear disrespect for the consumer.

To make things worse, KitchenAid customer service was no help. I probably spent fifteen minutes 'chatting' with a KitchenAid rep and they seemed to have no idea what the trouble could be. Curious, as this seems to be a common problem. All they could offer me was to send the whole blender in to be fixed at my cost. Thank goodness for Amazon. I learned what was wrong and how to fix it from this feedback page--Thank you Forrest Foltz!

Call me crazy but I want a product that works. And when it breaks, I want to know what the problem is and how best to fix it. I didn't get either from KitchenAid. This product is only worth the fuss if you get it free.

This is a cheap, over-priced product. Don't waste you money! I used my blender to make ice and fruit drinks, which were never blended fully. After only a few years of use the plastic coupler broke and now the item is useless.